Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name
is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city. It is occasionally referred to as The City Beautiful.
The city of Chandigarh was the first planned city in India and is known internationally for its architecture and urban design. The city has projects designed by
architects such as Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Matthew Nowicki, and Albert Mayer. The city tops the list of Indian States and Union Territories with the highest
per capita income in the country at Rs.99,262 at current prices and Rs.70,361 at constant prices (2006–2007). The city was reported in 2010 to be the "cleanest" in
India, based on a national government study, and the territory also headed the list of Indian states and territories according to research conducted using 2005 data by
Human Development Index.
History
After the partition of British India into India and Pakistan in 1947, the former British province of Punjab was also split between India and Pakistan. The Indian state
of Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition.[8] After several plans to make additions to existing
cities were found to be unfeasible for various reasons, the decision to construct a new and planned city was undertaken. Of all the new town schemes in independent
India, the Chandigarh project quickly assumed prime significance, because of the city's strategic location as well as the personal interest of Jawaharlal Nehru, the
first Prime Minister of independent India. Commissioned by Nehru to reflect the new nation's modern, progressive outlook, Chandigarh was designed by the French (born
Swiss) architect and urban planner, Le Corbusier, in the 1950s. Le Corbusier was in fact the second architect of the city, after the initial master plan was prepared
by the American architect-planner Albert Mayer who was working with the Polish-born architect Matthew Nowicki.[citation needed]
On 1 November 1966, the newly-formed Indian state of Haryana was carved out of the eastern portion of the Punjab, in order to create Haryana as a majority Hindi-
speaking state (with a Hindu majority), while the western portion of Punjab retained a mostly Punjabi language-speaking majority (with a Sikh majority) and remained as
the current day federated state of Punjab. However, the city of Chandigarh was on the border, and was thus created into a union territory to serve as capital of both
these states.
Geography and climate
Chandigarh is located near the foothills of the Shivalik range of the Himalayas in northwest India. It covers an area of approximately 44.5 sq mi or 114 km². and
shares its borders with the states of Haryana in the east and Punjab in the north, west and south. The exact cartographic co-ordinates of Chandigarh are 30.74°N
76.79°E. It has an average elevation of 321 metres (1053 ft).
The surrounding districts are of Mohali, Patiala and Roopnagar in Punjab and Panchkula and Ambala in Haryana. The boundary of the state of Himachal Pradesh is also
minutes away from its north border.
Chandigarh has a humid subtropical climate characterized by a seasonal rhythm: very hot summers, mild winters, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature
(-1 °C to 41.2 °C). In winter, pieces of snow sometimes occurs during December and January. The average annual rainfall is 1110.7 mm. The city also receives occasional
winter rains from the west.